Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism

Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism Among the best explainations of Marxism made by Marx and Engels Engels wrote this pamphlet from portions of Anti Duhring with the intention of providing workers with a straight forward exposition to

Title: Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism

Author: Friedrich Engels Paul Lafargue Sankar Srinivasan

ISBN: 9781511702058

Page: 277

Format: Paperback

Among the best explainations of Marxism made by Marx and Engels, Engels wrote this pamphlet from portions of Anti Duhring, with the intention of providing workers with a straight forward exposition to Marxist thought In the three sections of the pamphlet, Engels explains the three components of Marxist thought French Socialism, German Philosophy, and English Economics.Among the best explainations of Marxism made by Marx and Engels, Engels wrote this pamphlet from portions of Anti Duhring, with the intention of providing workers with a straight forward exposition to Marxist thought In the three sections of the pamphlet, Engels explains the three components of Marxist thought French Socialism, German Philosophy, and English Economics In the first part of the pamphlet Engels explains that Socialism of the past had been utopian holding the belief that as soon as everyone in a society understood Socialism and believed in it, a Socialist society would appear Engels wrote, the Utopians attempted to evolve out of the human brain Society presented nothing but wrongs to remove these were the task of reason It was necessary, then, to discover a new and perfect system of social order and to impose this upon society from without by propaganda, and, wherever it was possible, by the example of model experiments Engels then explains the slow historical development of the dialectical philosophy over thousands of years knowledge that culminated into what allowed Marx to see and explain the materialist conception of history, which Engels goes onto explain in the third part of this pamphlet.

One thought on “Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism”

In my opinion, this is a better introduction to Marxism than the Communist Manifesto. The first chapter focuses on utopian socialist who tried to make reforms but ran up against roadblocks of the bourgeoisie, and since it was based on an unscientific view, it lead to a "mish-mash of critical statements, economic theories and pictures of future societies," none of which had the momentum to implement their ideas. Unfortunately, this still sounds like the Left today.The second chapter, talks about [...]

Don't start learning about socialism by reading the Communist Manifesto, start with this. It's a small piece, covering the utopian socialist movements, the development of Hegelian dialectics, and historical materialism. The first part is a description of the utopian socialist movements, what motivated them, and what actions they took to try to usher in socialism. The second part is a short description of the development of Hegelian (idealist) dialectics, the contrast between dialectics and metap [...]

Interesting. I read somewhere that Engels was actually the better writer of the Marx/Engels team. Does that make Engels the Garfunkel, or Simon? I don't know. But this was fun to read and interesting. So much passion.

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific is one of the most important works for understanding Marxism. In this work Engels establishes what scientific socialism really is in three main parts.He explains the role of utopian socialism and in particular specifies that utopian socialism was only an emotional argument against Capitalism.Then he goes on to clarify what dialects is and how a materialist view of this can result in a scientific basis for socialism, in the form of Marxism.The final part is using [...]

you should read this. everyone should read this. dialectics for the cool kids. historical materialism for the pals. I've not read a more concrete explanation of D & HM particularly, but the whole piece is a wonderful exploration of where the lads were at the end of the 19th century and to a lesser extent in practical terms, where we are now. you have the right to the value your labour creates.

Good summary of the economic thought of Marx and Engels. It should be noted that this essay does skew more towards Engels views, especially in regards to inevitability of a take over of the means of production by the state and a stricter technological determinism than Marx advocated.

Much like The German Ideology and The Communist Manifesto, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific is among the essentials for understanding Marxism and the dialectical materialist approach to socialism. Frederick Engels, himself a rather undervalued influence on Karl Marx, is clear and concise in this book, laying out simply how it is that Marxism is a more viable way of looking at the world, and why workers' self-emancipation accompanied by an overthrow of capitalism points the most realistic way fo [...]

Wonderful overview of pre-Marxist socialisms, the rise of capital out of feudalism, and a succinct summary of how modern relations of production lead necessarily to their own end at the hands of the proletariat. As well, in the introduction, one finds a discussion of religion's relationship to capitalism in England which is in effect an exposition on the protestant work ethic, twelve years before Max Weber would publish his text on this topic. Engels consistently uses a clear, no-nonsense style [...]

It's amazing how modern this text feels, especially with its explanations of the crises that capitalism creates. I appreciated the distinction between Utopian socialism, which is based mostly on a fantasy of "socialism from above," and scientific socialism, based on data and the self-emancipation of the working class through struggle. I also appreciated the analysis of the way in which production has been socialized while compensation has remained in the hands of those who own tools, i.e. the me [...]

Despite my two-star rating, this is an interesting read for those interested in the history of communism.This is primarily a work of historiography. Engels interprets the history of Europe from the Middle Ages to the 19th century as class struggle. Feudalism was undermined by increasing commercial activity and finished off in the French Revolution. However, the French Revolution and its aftermath revealed the flaws of "bourgeois liberalism". Liberalism is designed to protect the property of the [...]

Economics and, by default, econometrics, are not things I can cognitively digest with ease. I will have to read this again, maybe more than twice. I still find no traces of the horrible, twisted, deformations by Lenin, Stalin, Mao, & Cie, but the "dictatorship of the proletariat" IS still a dictatorship. The passages on boom/bust, production/overproduction, and consumption/overconsumption are, however, quit convincing. Perhaps the night watch security guard with the bad allergies who patente [...]

Good in places. The first half or two-thirds were an overview, first of materialist philosophy and then of pre-Marxian socialist theorists, none of which I found of much interest. The final third started off with an analysis of the development of industrial capitalism, in the “historical materialist” mode. The gist of it was that, as economic conditions develop (international trade, advanced machinery, etc.), social conditions lag behind and are eventually too outdated to function; so, as te [...]

A very short read & very interesting if you want to understand the change from feudal society to a capitalist society.The first section is about where initial Socialist theories & their applications were flawed or went wrong. The second section is about history & understanding it not as random or unconnected wars or events but as things connected to control of society, the exploited & the people doing the exploiting.The third section, which is the most interesting one, explores t [...]

Useful as an easy summary of Marxian historio-philosophical thought and in its articulation of the differences between utopian (pre-Marxist) and scientific (Marxist socialism). Although it should be noted that a number of historians (Kowalkoski, etc) reject Engels's more positivist consideration of Marxian thought. Engels distinguishes utopian socialism from scientific socialism in that the utopians did not recognize the development of hsitory, or that it was historical development that created [...]

Nice (chapter/)book! It's a chapter of Anti-Dühring that was made into an independent book, hence the mention. I love to read Engels, he writes very interesting philosphical remarks and not that interesting, but still curious historical references.This work doesn't have much to do with the title, just like the other work I've read of his (the housing question), it focuses little on it (although when he does say something about the subject, what he says is very good) and then enrolls in a discou [...]

this excerpt from anti-duhring is an informative history of socialist thought prior to marx and a good introductory text for approaching marxism as a whole. for anyone interested in marxism it ought to be read, preferably early on, as it also provides concise introductions to historical materialism and dialectics. it is also, especially the introduction to the english edition, wildly funny. poor engels is much maligned, either blamed for any inconsistency that appears in marx's writings or ignor [...]

"the fact that the type of the cat with the guile associated with it is found in animal form, stands on an even plane with the circumstance that a similar type of character is found also in human beings There is therefore nothing mysterious about evil, unless someone wants to scent out something mysterious in the existence of a cat or of any animal of prey." -- Eugen Duhring"Evil is — the cat. The devil therefore has no horns or cloven hoof, but claws and green eyes. And Goethe committed an un [...]

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Friedrich Engels and his more famous intellectual companion, Karl Marx. The power of their critiques are overwhelming still, even if misconceived in actual 20th century politics. Many times I've wished I could commit to such projects. Even writing this way makes me feel like Arthur Brooke, the weak-willed uncle in George Eliot's Middlemarch (one of my favorite books of all time) who "used to go in" for all sorts of things. But, alas, I cannot commit. Lib [...]

After The Communist Manifesto, I had an irresistible urge to follow it up quickly and this seminal work by Engels seemed felicitous. Given the knowledge of how communism came to be viewed,when put into practice,I wanted to know theoretical constructs behind the idea.Engels' criticism of the utopian socialism of the pre-marxist era lays down the platform on which he builts the framework for scientific socialism.He hammers home the point that scientific socialism was not a chance discovery and ,ra [...]

I actually much prefer this book to the Communist Manifesto. Partly because of the deeper context which is undoubtedly due to the fact that Engels' thought is much more developed than it was 30 odd years earlier when he and Marx wrote the Manifesto, and partly due to the improved language which I'm guessing is the result of Aveling's translation (Aveling was Elanor Marx's husband and close associate of Marx and Engels). The language is not nearly so archaic or polemical. But perhaps it's just do [...]

Engels is a much easier read than Marx (which is not to say outright that Engels is an easy read) and this quick book does a good job providing an overview of the progression of socialism from utopian (socialism that, to over simplify it, does not actually wish to do away with class distinctions or the capitalist system) to scientific (by which Engels means Marxist). It helped me to have some underlying knowledge of marxism and socialist theory/terminology before I read it though.

Engels clearly lays out the history of class society and the development of modern capitalism from the beginnings of surplus value under feudalism, and the history and development of socialist philosophies leading up to Marxism.Most interesting is the fact that even in the early 1800s capitalism was going through boom bust cycles of over production and mass unemployment.One day the madness and anarchy of capitalism will end. Let's hope it's soon.

Published in 1880 from a part of Engels work 'Anti-Dühring', Socialism, Utopian and Scientific seeks to distinguish between scientific socialism; a term used by Engels to describe a means of understanding and predicting varying economic and social phenomena by examining historical trends via scientific methodology and utopian socialism; which encompasses examining the same phenomena but via rational means

Many people consider themselves to be socialists. In this dense and serious piece of writing, Engels examines the difference between those who want to see the rich get less rich and the poor less poor by appealing to people's nice side, and those who see a materialist approach in which the working class mobilizes to receive what it has rightfully earned. For serious students of political science, this is very interesting. Not light reading.

A quick, readable introduction to the ideas that Marx and Engels would examine more closely in more famous works like "Das Kapital" and "The Communist Manifesto." It occasionally expects familiarity with some obscure economists and philosophers, but other than that it is very readable and still feels pertinent today.